54 Answers

I’d flip the guy over. It’ll probably happen again when I’m not around, so why should I get upset that I’m interrupting nature’s course? Just flip the guy over. I’d want him to do the same for me someday. ;-)

@augustlan I think of it as us existing with nature the moment we get out there. Even though we’re filming and trying to stay distant, we’re interacting with nature. I’d help the little guy out. Flipping over the turtle isn’t going to destroy nature’s delicate balance and I wouldn’t watch an animal suffer if I could help it.

this happened to me once, I found a large fish stuggling to survive in a recently flooded area. I got my footage (video), then pushed it into deeper water. I figured that I had found it for a reason, and decided to help. It was a trade off.

Help him. This seems pretty clear-cut to me. If I saw a little old lady foundering on the sidewalk, I wouldn’t “let nature take its course”, so where would one draw the line in deciding what to help and what not to help? Just listen to the voice of your own compassion, always.

I once saw a caterpillar trying to cross the road. I turned it around, but the guy insisted on going across the road. I suppose I could have picked it up and moved it to a safer location, but hey it was just a cateripillar.

I would, and actually have, flipped stranded turtles and tortoises over, as well as moved them out of the road and back to a canal or other proper site. I have done the same for snakes, bugs and lizards in the house, and even an occasional mouse (although I am terribly allergic to mice).

But why does being a nature photographer have anything to do with this choice?

@The_Compassionate_Heretic – Well, most of the nature photographers and almost all of the nature videographers do disturb nature simply by being there. We used to say “Take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints,” but we never assumed we couldn’t act as a fortunate event in the life of an individual organism.

Compassion is one of our species’ greatest gifts. Ignoring an opportunity to help another creature without any cost to ourselves would be shameful.

And photography is all just a lie anyway. Who really believes we can capture nature in its pure form? As @Darwin said, just by being there we are altering the environment. Choosing a composition, including and excluding objects, setting an exposure and fixing the image on paper are all about us, not about nature.

If you see a turtle on its back and your knee-jerk reaction isn’t to help it, you’re a pathetic excuse for a human being. I found our turtle on its back once and I didn’t even think about what to do, it comes instinctively.

I’d take the picture, turn the turtle back on its feet right after (a friendly gesture, wouldn’t cost me), and move on. I’m thinking of the stories of dolphins that rescue shipwreck victims. What if they’d just keep to their own thing?

I’d photograph it.
Then help it. Considering that we humans also kill turtles on the other hand, so evening out the equation a bit.
Otherwise if humans had no business with turtles I’d let nature take its coarse.